Scheduling Groups

[revitworkbench]

Is there a way to schedule Families where each instance of a family that has nested families in it gets separated out from all the other similar families with nested families. like if I have 3 instances of the same family, and each family has piece 1-3,  can I create an assembly or something to say assembly 1 has piece 1,2, 3, assembly 2 has piece 1 2 and 3 and assembly 3 has piece 1,2, and 3. And schedule them broken down like that. Preferably where I can insert any name that I want for "assembly 1, 2, or 3"? thanks!

[CoreyDaun · Accepted solution]

Yes you can, but you'll need to create a Shared Parameter (Text) (named something like "Assembly Name")  to do so. Open one of you Families, open each Nested Family, add this Shared Parameter as an Instance Parameter to each of them, and then load them back into the host Family. Now add that same Shared Parameter to the Host Family. Select each instance of the Nested Families and Under Properties, click on the grey button to the right of the listed Shared Parameter. From the following list, select the same Shared Parameter; this will link the value of the Parameter in the Nested Families to that of the Host Family, so in the Project, you can select this Family and fill out this Parameter and it will automatically cascade to the Nested Families, thus giving you a means of 'grouping' the assemblies.

[revitworkbench]

Ok, so that seems to work, but I am now trying to associate model text with one this shared parameter on a surface in one of the nested families and when I load it into the project it gives me the error message that value cannot be null (or whatever) I remembered that the model text has to have a value in the parameter that you are associating it with, so I went into each nested family, and the host family and set the value to 1, In the nested family the model text shows up fine. but when I load it into the project, it goes A-wall and gives me like a million of the same error messages as above. Any idea what Im missing? Thanks!

[CoreyDaun]

Alright - there is a way, but it will essentially reset the value of that Parameter for all instances of that Family across the entire Project. Open your Family for editing and change the Instance Text Parameter to a Type Parameter and enter a default value, such as "A", for each Type by entering it as a formula (with quotes). Hit "OK" and then load this family back into the Project and select "Overwrite the existing version and it's parameter values". This will cause all of the values of that Parameter to revert to that value. Now you can go back to the Family, remove the formula, and re-link the Model Text back to the Text Parameter.

There is no real way to maintain the original values of the Parameter, but you can create a schedule sorted by that value, include the Comments field, and then enter the value of the parameter into Comments so you can remember each instances value.

*Note: in any family in which you plan on including parameter-driven Model Text, ensure that any driving Instance Text Parameters do not have a blank default value.